For years City of Clayton has suffered from high staff turnover. Councilmember Holly Tillman has repeatedly asked Council for an independent investigation since October 2023. She felt it was the actions of some of the other councilmembers behavior responsible for the high turnover.
In a March 11, 2024, a Clayton Pioneer editorial by Tamara Steiner elevated the drama stating the “City is in decline” and called for a Grand Jury investigation. “Clayton City Hall is in chaos. It’s time for the Contra Costa Grand Jury to step in for a close look at City Council governance and the behavior of some individual councilmembers.”
Bringing civility to the issue, Mayor Trupiano arranged a meeting between herself, Tillman, City Manager Kris Louftus, and City Attorney Mala Sagramanian on January 28th to review the turnover.
According to a post on ClaytonWatch.org which is no fan of Tillman, “It was determined that no investigation would take place, as we all knew there were no valid complaints from current or former staff that would warrant such an inquiry. The turnover in city staff stemmed from one primary issue: poor leadership and mismanagement by previous city managers… (whose) styles caused the turmoil at City Hall, not the actions of certain council members or public inquiries.”
Also, as a result of that meeting, Mayor Trupiano and Tillman formed an ad hoc committee with the council’s unanimous approval in order to facilitate a governance training workshop for Council and staff. Tillman stated to Councilmember Jeff Wan in that meeting that the ad hoc committee and training satisfies her previous requests for an independent investigation.
However, Tillman told the Diablo Gazette, “I will let people know if it’s resolved based on council members’ behavior in the future. Now, the rubber will hit the road once we find the person to do the training and if all five council members show up for the training and actually complete it. It’s baby steps.”